Beast
Hank McCoy aka Beast was among Professor Xavier's earliest students. Shunned by his family and peers, Hank was a runaway that found a home and a family with those of his own kind. He was a rather gifted young man, who helped design many of the X-Mansion's high-tech toys. His life was nearly cut short in the blast that killed his mentor and many of his friends, leaving him further mutated. At the moment he is the only individual who still calls the destroyed mansion home. Background Accessing Cerebro Files - Subject: Hank McCoy - Codename: The Beast Professor X: "Blessed with Superhuman strength that is matched only by his brilliant scientific mind. He is the voice of calming reason in this chaotic world. He is the brains and brawn of this team." - (Beast Profile Video) Hank McCoy was born nearly 30 years ago to Norton and Edna McCoy of Dunfee, Illinois. The early 80's was not the most accepting period in history for Mutants, especially for those few mutants who possessed physical mutations. And unfortunatly for Hank, his mutant X-Gene had been triggered by genetic damage passed on from his father, from working as a security guard in a local nuclear power plant. Born with oversized hands, prehensile feet, and a larger more apelike skelatal system... there was no way that he was going to pass for baseline human. If not for his parents religious beliefs, young Hank's story might have ended right there in one way or another. Not that the eventual story that followed was a particularly heartwarming one. There was no "Disneyesque" moment where Hank's parents finally saw his inner beauty and embraced him with love. Norton and Edna may have accepted the responsibility of caring for Hank, but they couldn't bring themselves really love him as their son. Sure, they tried to go through the motions and at least pretend, but from an early age Hank could tell it was mostly an act. School which at first seemed like a perfect escape from his home life, proved to be nothing of the sort. It was a small town after all, and there are no such things as secrets there. Every student had heard of "That McCoy Boy" from someone, earning him a number of cruel nicknames. It got even worse, when Hank's growing intellect had a signifigant impact on the grading curve. After so much rejection in his life, Hank simply stopped trying to make friends. Most of his free time was spent reading, devouring every book that he could get his hands on. It was his one escape from an uncaring world. It didn't matter what the book was about, Hank would eagerly read it from cover to cover. It's likely this passionate habit which led to him in later years becoming something of a Jack of all Trades. During that time, Hank also began to discover what amazing feats his body was capable of. Feeling that maybe people would be more accepting of him if he were of value to them, Hank turned his attention towards trying to fit in as a Jock. He was built for strength, speed, and agility... so wrestling and football seemed to be a natural fit. While Hank knew his abilities would give him an unfair advantage, his desire for acceptance among his peers drove him to making the choice to try out. While he proved his worth, he once again found the same rejection from his peers. Regardless of what an asset he would be, Hank was dropped from the team without playing a single game for what they claimed was the greater good of the school. Eventually things became too much of a burden for Hank, and in his mid-teens he packed all of his belongings and left home. With nowhere to go, Hank became a drifter for a while... surviving on odd jobs and always moving on when anyone started asking questions. One night while making camp, Hank felt a strange welcoming feeling drawing him towards New York City. Hank eventually found his way to New York, and met the man would change his life forever. Professor Charles Xavier, a scientist and civil rights advocate. And while the world didn't know it, also a fellow mutant. A remarkable man who was starting a school in nearby Westchester. A private school, which would be a haven for mutants. A place where they could get an education, as well as training in the use of their powers. Hank accepted the offer to be one of Xavier's first students immediately, and found everything that ever eluded him. A home, a family, and friends. Under Xavier's tutelage, Hank quickly came out of his shell... becoming one of his top students. As well as one of the members of Xavier's original squad of X-Men under the codename "The Beast". Over time, while many of the faces in the school changed... Hank was almost a constant. While he'd graduated with honors from Xavier's and gone off to college, somewhat following in Xavier's footsteps... he still felt that he owed Xavier for everything that he'd given him. Even upon finishing college, Hank rejected the job offers that rolled in, deciding to stay at the school and help train the next generation. After all, it was rewarding work. And the lower levels of the X-Mansion had some of most high tech lab facilities in the world. So it seemed the logical choice. Granted, Hank spent a great deal of time juggling a variety of hats in addition to his research. It was during this time that Hank really earned the title of "Jack of all Trades". At the time of the attack on the X-Mansion, Beast was hard at work in the labs in the lower levels. For months, he'd been close to cracking the chemical building blocks of mutation. Long suspecting that his early X-Gene manifestation had been due to genetic damaged passed onto him by his father. Hank felt that having a better understanding of his own mutation, would allow him to help others who might also have damaged genomes. There was so much potential for his work, perhaps even triggering temporary mutant abilities in flatscans. It had so many life saving applications, but the research and the man behind it were nearly killed by the unprovoked attack on the X-Mansion by a unknown faction within the U.S. Government who saw the school as a threat. The resulting explosion left Hank's mentor and over 20 of his students dead. In addition, Hank underwent what could deemed a "Secondary Mutation" due to exposure to a massive overdose of the various beakers and vials of his X-Gene research that he was exposed to in the violant shockwave. Now Hank's appearance more fit his codename, as he was more beastial in appearance. Plagued by guilt for having survived the attack when Xavier and others had not... Hank erected a marker on the grounds with their names and his, and retreated to live in the X-Base which had survived the brunt of the explosion. The world believed that Hank McCoy had died in the blast that destroyed the mansion, and who was he to argue. From a certain point of view, he had. Once again alone, Beast has spent a great deal of his time focused on repairing the lower levels. Making them operational and livable for the day that the world might once again need an X-Men. It may never happen, but it helps keep Beast's mind off of the situation. Focusing on the most vital areas, and leaving the creature comforts to the bare minimum. Thankfully the lower levels were designed to function as a fallout shelter as well, and are fully stocked with food and fresh drinking water. In addition to having a back-up reactor to supply power to it's systems. The level containing Cerebro, the Danger Room, and the War Room are where Hank currently spends most of his time when not working, as they escaped the blast with the smallest amount of damage. As for the upper level, Hank's lab suffered the most serious damage and is a low priority at the moment. Especially as Hank believes his current condition is likely permanent. As time has passed, Hank has set up a temporary lab space and perfected one of his old experiments allowing him to create masks and appliances for disguise. As such, he's started making limited journeys in disguise into Mutant Town via a secret tunnels that connects the X-Mansion to tunnels beneath New York. He's also begun making pirate radio broadcasts from a modified Cerebro to hide the signal's location. He's actually started to enjoy these regular visits to Mutant Town as well as the Broadcasts. These could be seen as a positive sign of Hank's slowly improving mental status. MUX History Logs *2011-03-21 - Old vs. Blue - Grant explores the old site of the X-Mansion for answers, and finds a tortured ghost of a soul. Category:Characters